South London region

Caroline Pidgeon: A SW17 resident has requested that you provide a statement as to what actions you are taking to improve train services in South London. They describe the services from Tooting, Streatham and Balham as chaotic at best, and further add that the Northern and Victoria lines cannot cope alone.

The Mayor: I agree that rail services in south London are complicated and infrequent, and passengers deserve better. Of course, many of the train services relied upon by residents of South London are not operated by TfL – they are instead run by the private train operating companies.
Despite my lack of direct control over these services, I have set out my ideas about how different parts of Government and the rail industry could do things differently and these are summarized in Transport for London’s (TfL’s) ‘Strategic Case for Metroisation in south and south east London’ document, which is published on its website. These proposals for a more reliable, better connected network include a flagship service offering up to 18 trains per hour on the Balham to Victoria corridor and a new interchange at Streatham Common.
Improved rail services would provide additional capacity to relieve pressure on the Northern and Victoria lines, and also support economic and housing growth. Improved services would also, for example, encourage the large number of passengers currently travelling by bus from Streatham to access the Northern line at Tooting and the Victoria line at Brixton to use their local rail services, freeing up capacity on both local buses and the Tube.
TfL has already fed these ideas into Network Rail route studies. These services are currently operated by Department for Transport (DfT) franchises, and TfL would need to work with the DfT and Network Rail to deliver enhancements through the DfT’s rail network enhancements pipeline process and re-franchising process. Although not essential, these service improvements would be easier to implement if TfL were the contracting authority for relevant local London area services, and TfL has advocated for this.
The Williams Rail Review is currently looking at the structure of the rail industry and provides an opportunity for these issues to be considered. TfL has submitted evidence to the review proposing the Metroisation model.I also remain committed to pressing for the transfer of responsibility for south London commuter services to TfL.